Sunday, May 26, 2013

When was the last time you couldn't see the print without
grabbing your glasses or some kind of a magnifier? Have you ever been out
somewhere and realized that the print on a label or a menu is just a bit too small? How many times have you forgotten
where your reading glasses are? Worse yet, broken them!

Let's face it, for many of us, we'd have a pretty
difficult time without using some kind of magnification to get through our
daily lives.

Some people are able to just pick up a pair of cheap reading
glasses at a drug store. The prices of which. can vary greatly - as does the
quality. Depending on your particular eye issues, over the counter reading
glasses won't even work for you.

When it comes to enhancing our eyesight with glasses,
there is no such thing as one size fits all.

That is why so many of us use prescription lenses for
distance, close up or both.

Sometimes though, we just need a little extra help - something
portable - like a magnifying glass. They are about as close to universal use as
it gets. With or without wearing prescription lenses, you can hold a magnifier
as close or as far from the object as works for you.

When you are looking for magnifiers, you should be aware
that there doesn't seem to be a universal standard as to what the various
magnifications quoted actually represent. Quality and clarity can vary greatly
from glass to glass. I've used a 3X that was about the same strength as another
manufacturers 2.5X regardless of the distance or the angle I held it from my
eye to the object being viewed. You really do need to personally test each type
with varying prints/distances before you buy - or at least make sure you can
return the product if it doesn't meet your needs.

As far back as I can remember, we always had a magnifier
of some kind around the house. It was generally kept by the phone in the
hallway so that we could read the tiny numbers in the phone book but it was
invaluable for countless other uses around the house by all of us - regardless
of our sight.

My maternal grandmother slowly lost much of her sight in
her later years. Besides her glasses, she also used a large magnifying lamp
that could be mounted to a table edge or an arm of a chair. With it, she could
still read and do some needlework. She left that lamp to me, but I found it too
large and awkward to use - both before and after losing so much of my sight.

I much prefer the portability of a small handheld pocket
magnifier.

My maternal grandfather had a small round magnifier that
was encased in a brown leather holder. You could slide the magnifier in and out
with ease. I loved that little glass and it was one of the things I asked for
and received after he passed when I was 12. I used that glass for years!

Unfortunately, all that use, also involved inadvertent drops resulting in
scratches, a cracked frame and the leather casing eventually coming apart and falling
off. I still have the remaining glass somewhere.

Since then, I've gone through a number of magnifiers. I've
tried to continue using a more modern version of that classic glass - even
though the glass lens was now plastic and the leather was imitation. It was the
style, the feel, the ease of use and the memory of my grandpa that drew me to
it.

Those more modern imitators, never lasted long. Drop them
once or twice and the frame holding the glass to its case would crack and the
glass would fall out. The casing would come apart after a while and eventually
fall off. They just weren't made the way they used to be!

While en route to Arizona back in January, I accidently
lost my pocket magnifier somewhere in the Calgary airport. It wasn't in the
greatest shape, but it was still usable and much needed until I could find a
replacement.

When I got to Mesa, we made a few calls and finally
tracked down a vision aid centre that carried a variety of magnifiers. They
didn't have exactly what I wanted,
but I found some acceptable alternatives at reasonable prices. I bought three
so that I'd have a supply for awhile!

One is a 4X fold out style that also came with a
drawstring pouch. Due to the smooth, hard plastic shell, it is tricky to open
with one hand though and was a bit pricey at $28US. It is also a bit stronger
than I need at the moment but may need down the road.

The other two are both the same style - a 3X round
magnifier in a rectangular case. At $8.50US, this is a good quality but it
requires both hands to open it as you need to touch both the bottom and sides
at the same time to trigger the opening. I assume the manufacturer meant this
as a safety, but frankly, it is a frustration! On the upside, I've dropped it a
couple times and it hasn't broken!

Finding pocket magnifiers here in Winnipeg,
isn't easy! You may find some cheap ones at big box stores or the
dollar type stores but the magnification quality and accuracy is quite poor. Most
opticians don't carry them. Most don't know where a consumer would even look
for them! At best, they suggest you try calling other opticians. Even fewer
suggest contacting the CNIB.

The CNIB does carry a wide variety of magnifying devices
in varying strengths and sizes. Prices can range from a few dollars to a couple
of grand depending on how fancy you want to get. Though this is a good source
for more specialized needs, the major drawback is that most have to be ordered
in from the main distribution centre in Ontario. You can browse and order online through their webstore.

Several weeks ago, I was getting my custom reading
glasses adjusted by my friendly neighbourhood optician and was lamenting the
lack of magnifying options and my quest to find a replacement while in Arizona.
I expressed my frustration at accessing visual aids other than through the
CNIB.

Surely I couldn't be the only person looking for pocket
magnifiers in the city - could I?

There had to be a simpler way for the average person to
find even the most basic of decent quality products! I suggested that since he
was very centrally located and already carried an extremely wide variety of
frames and other eyewear, that he should bring in at least one pocket
magnifier!

A few days later, he gave me a 3X pocket magnifier from
Hilco to test. I've used it numerous times over the last three weeks and really
like it! It's compact, can be opened with one hand and is durable! I've already
inadvertently dropped it twice and not a scratch or crack!!

So, if you want your own handy dandy pocket magnifier - and
frankly everyone should have at least one- then go see Ken and the rest of the friendly staff at OsborneSpectacle - 134 Osborne St (NE corner of Osborne at Stradbrook in the heart of
the village).

He brought in a few of the magnifiers and they are only $10
each including the taxes! Also, if you are looking for a stronger magnification
or something new and exciting in eyewear, they'd love to help you out! They've
been in the eye care business since the early 60's and I've been a customer
there for almost 20 years!

And before you ask .... NO, I didn't get paid to
write this! Osborne Spectacle really is a great business! Their quality and
service can't be beat!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Today, is a day to honour our mothers and I'd like to
share some memories of my mom. She passed almost 18 months ago at the age of 86.
This is a slightly modified and edited (for family privacy reasons) version of
the tribute I wrote for her memorial service. The minister read it to those of
us who gathered.

Mom raised four kids while helping dad run the farm. She
cooked, cleaned, laundered, sewed, knit, gardened, nursed, taught, played with
and chauffeured us - and still managed to socialize and entertain friends. She
was always ready to listen to anyone who needed an ear or lend a helping hand
when she could. I have no idea how she managed to do it all and retain her
sanity. I know her sense of humour went a LONG way!

Mom wasn't much for swearing or hearing others swear for
that matter. So we’d occasionally have to use phrases such as "brown sugar" or "fudge"! If we told her about
something that had gone wrong such as something breaking down or an injury of
some kind - she’d say “And did you say
darn!?!”

I remember one time we were talking about being more
polite with our language in public. The conversation actually occurred while we
were grocery shopping. As we stopped in the meat department, we decided that
referring to chicken breasts as “breasts” was not polite public conversation.
We tried to request chicken bosoms but neither of us could pull it off with a
straight face! However when it was just us talking we almost always called them
chicken bosoms after that!

In the early 1980’s, mom and I started to update the
family history for her mother. We then tackled dad’s family history. We spent
countless hours researching and trying to write the histories of each branch of
the family. We made a few trips to Winnipeg
to read old newspapers and other documents that were on microfiche at the Provincial Archives. I can’t begin to tell you
how many times I had to remind mom that we weren't there to read the recipes or
the store ads of the day! Then there were the times when we’d be trying to
write and would box ourselves into a corner with words. If only we’d have had
computers back then!

You’d think we’d have stopped after the first two books
were done but nope - we went on and did the history of the little country
school district that the family farm was a part of. The three books were a lot
of work – far more than either of us ever anticipated but I know I wouldn't even have attempted any of them if mom had not been there to work beside me on
the projects.

We always enjoyed spending time together. After I moved
away from home, we both looked forward to my weekends home or any other visits.
One of our favourite weekend things, was to go shopping on Saturday’s. We’d
leave for nearby towns in the morning and hit the sales. If we saw a garage
sale sign we had to check it out. I got
several things for my first apartment that way!

On one of our shopping days, we were in a fairly new
Canadian Tire store. I don’t recall what we were looking for, but we ended up
in the clock section. Before we left, we set the alarms on at least 4 or 5 wind
up clocks to go off at 15 minute intervals over the next hour or so!

If any of the grocery stores were handing out free
samples, she’d try and convince me that meant we didn’t have to go anywhere
else for lunch! Of course we always ended up heading somewhere for a sit down
lunch and a coffee break in the afternoon before heading home.

Food and recipes were a major topic for mom. She was
always clipping or writing down recipes. Dad joked that she’d have to live to
at least 150 to try all of them! She taught all of us kids to cook. Some of her
recipes were a handful of this and a pinch of that - so occasionally I’d have
to get her to measure things as we cooked together so I could duplicate the
recipe in my own kitchen. Now I make the stuffing the same way she did! When
mom made the stuffing, she always said she had to make enough for all the
“birds” – one to go in the oven and extra for us kids to each fill a cereal
bowl to eat for breakfast or lunch!

Keeping enough milk in the fridge was a real challenge
when we were all home – even if only to visit. We all drank a fair bit of milk
and mom always wondered if she’d ever get her calves weaned!

When I was young, I’d enter baking in the local fair. I’d
do all the baking and mom did all the dishes! Not really fair, but I couldn't have entered or won as many prizes if she hadn’t taught me so well or helped
with the clean-up.

In the last few years, we got into a routine of me
calling her every Sunday morning at 11AM.
We’d talk for an hour about almost anything. Health, weather, family, friends
or the wildlife she’d seen around the yard. I’d read her one of my blog posts
or some of the humour emails that I’d gotten. Of course we had to talk about
food. She always wanted to know if I’d tried any new recipes and what I was planning
on making for lunch and supper that day. She loved peanut butter and chocolate
almost as much as I do! She also had a real passion for lemon – especially
lemon meringue pie!

The last few months, our
conversations were much shorter but also more often. We never knew which one
might be the last one and we always ended the call by saying we loved each
other.

I really miss those calls but I
miss her even more.

We have all been very blessed
to have such a wonderful mother. She was always there when we needed her
without being pushy or judging. She gave us all of her love and understanding.
We had the best mother we could ever have asked for and she will be forever
loved and deeply missed.

About Me

I was born in the late 50's and raised on a prairie farm. I've lived in Winnipeg since 1984. I have always had low vision but have been legally blind since 1990.
I have a wickedly warped sense of humour and love to laugh.
My interests include; music, baking, cooking, mysteries and much more.
You will learn more about me as you read the posts.